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One way to solve the ambiguity problem of natural languages is using a controlled natural language, which is a limited subset of a natural language[1]. Some of

by ippisl 14y ago

One way to solve the ambiguity problem of natural languages is using a controlled natural language, which is a limited subset of a natural language[1]. Some of those are machine transformable to logic. There's even some work to encode legal knowledge using them. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_natural_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_natural_language

ehsanu1 14y ago
Thanks, interesting! Not mentioned on that page, but a notable natural language which is similar in its goals is Lojban [1]. It's actually based on predicate language, which is actually what Inform 7 uses as well in order to derive the actual meaning from natural language sentences. It manages this because it is based on a limited subset of English. But I'll note that we humans manage to understand each other just fine without resorting to a controlled natural language. We solve the ambiguity problem basically by taking the most likely interpretation of a given sentence, given the context, or asking questions if too confused. And in fact, there are natural language parsers out there that can predict the mostly like parse reasonably well for single sentences. The biggest problem here is that programmers like having full control of what's going on, whereas this sort of idea brings in a large dose of unpredictability: how will the parser interpret this sentence? I think this can be solved to some extent by having the parser tell you what it parsed in less ambiguous terms. In fact, you might ask the parser to present a normalized version of the code that is more specific about exactly what's going on (and probably more verbose), and also expanding out phrases to show you exactly what they mean for debugging purposes. Also, when a clear parse cannot be made, the parser can simply ask you to clarify, presenting the multiple parses that it could not decide between. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojban http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojban
- pfeyz 14y ago
  I'd just like to point out that Lojban is a constructed language, not a natural language. It was designed and built from the ground up, as opposed to the GP's controlled natural languages which are pre-existing human languages with a bunch of stuff stripped out of them.
dualogy 14y ago
This is so cool. Follow-up question: > There's even some work to encode legal knowledge using them Where do I learn more about this? What's the name of that language, or research project, or...?
- ippisl 14y ago
  i just did a google search for : "controlled natural language" legal , and got some results.

by ippisl 14y ago

ehsanu1 14y ago

Thanks, interesting! Not mentioned on that page, but a notable natural language which is similar in its goals is Lojban [1]. It's actually based on predicate language, which is actually what Inform 7 uses as well in order to derive the actual meaning from natural language sentences. It manages this because it is based on a limited subset of English. But I'll note that we humans manage to understand each other just fine without resorting to a controlled natural language. We solve the ambiguity problem basically by taking the most likely interpretation of a given sentence, given the context, or asking questions if too confused. And in fact, there are natural language parsers out there that can predict the mostly like parse reasonably well for single sentences. The biggest problem here is that programmers like having full control of what's going on, whereas this sort of idea brings in a large dose of unpredictability: how will the parser interpret this sentence? I think this can be solved to some extent by having the parser tell you what it parsed in less ambiguous terms. In fact, you might ask the parser to present a normalized version of the code that is more specific about exactly what's going on (and probably more verbose), and also expanding out phrases to show you exactly what they mean for debugging purposes. Also, when a clear parse cannot be made, the parser can simply ask you to clarify, presenting the multiple parses that it could not decide between. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojban http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojban

pfeyz 14y ago
I'd just like to point out that Lojban is a constructed language, not a natural language. It was designed and built from the ground up, as opposed to the GP's controlled natural languages which are pre-existing human languages with a bunch of stuff stripped out of them.

dualogy 14y ago

This is so cool. Follow-up question: > There's even some work to encode legal knowledge using them Where do I learn more about this? What's the name of that language, or research project, or...?

ippisl 14y ago
i just did a google search for : "controlled natural language" legal , and got some results.